


TEXT TO RHETT

by Anonymous



Category: Rhett & Link
Genre: Birthday, Fluff and Angst, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-01
Updated: 2015-06-01
Packaged: 2018-04-02 10:23:37
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,711
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4056505
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Link wasn’t expecting anything big.</p><p><b>TEXT FROM RHETT:</b> <i>I’ll be staying at Nick’s. Love you.</i></p><p>Rhett forgot his birthday.</p>
            </blockquote>





	TEXT TO RHETT

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this around March because it was my birthday and some people I really care about forgot my birthday and this was my way of, well, expressing how I felt. Not acurrate but hey.

Link wasn’t expecting anything big.

He wasn’t expecting flowers, gifts, or even a cake. He would be happy with a soft pat on his back and people wishing him Happy Birthday. Hell, he would be happy even with Rhett acknowledging his existence. Yet, there he was, sitting on their bed with his phone on his hands.

**TEXT FROM RHETT:** _I’ll be staying at Nick’s. Love you._

Rhett forgot his birthday.

The first birthday Link would have spent with his _boyfriend_.

Link didn’t expect Rhett bringing him breakfast at bed but he surely wasn’t expecting the note on the empty coffee pot that read “ _I had to leave early, I’ll see you later_.” Link shrugged it off, remembering that meeting (the one Rhett decided he’d go alone because Link groaned every time it was brought up.)

When he got to the office, the crew came up to him through the morning wishing him a Happy Birthday, in which Link thanked them with an honest and wide smile. Link was smiling like an idiot when Becca brought him homemade cookies for him; he was really moved by the gesture.

He was actually expecting Rhett to send him a text at noon, asking if he wanted to go out to lunch or something like that. It wasn’t a birthday lunch, for sure but it was the most normal thing to do. They always go out and eat lunch together (unless they were really, really busy.)

Noon came in and there was no signal of Rhett.

 **TEXT TO RHETT** : _Hey, do you want to go and get lunch with me?_

 **TEXT FROM RHETT** : _Meeting extended and we went out to eat, sorry, xo._

He wasn’t upset.

Link got home later than usual (he wasn’t sure if it was accidental or on propose) and he got to an empty, dark house. All the lights were out and Rhett’s car wasn’t in the driveway.

He would have been happy if Rhett came home later and kissed him, wished him a Happy Birthday between kisses and hugs, maybe some light bites that would leave blue and red bruises on his neck and shoulders. He would have been happy if Rhett took him out to get dinner or order food from the Chinese restaurant down the road so they could eat together while watching a movie or something in YouTube.  Link would have been happy if Rhett came home, period.

Rhett didn’t appear and Link was already tired of waiting him. He took a shower, ate some reheated leftovers and went to bed, laptop under his arm. He started going through the internet once again, answering some mails and reading the news.

At eleven, he sent a text to Rhett.

 **TEXT TO RHETT:** _Are you coming home soon?_

Twenty minutes later, he got an answer.

**TEXT FROM RHETT:** _I’ll be staying at Nick’s. Love you._

And there he was, sitting on their bed with his phone on his hands. His back against the headboard, his glasses on the nightstand and his laptop forgotten on the other side of the bed. Link just sighed and blocked his phone, letting the room fall in darkness. “Happy birthday to me, I guess,” he mumbled to himself, throwing his phone into the bed and lying on his side.

That night, Link had a dreamless sleep and the second of June, he woke up on an empty bed.

**\---**

Rhett was forgetful when it came to dates.

More than once, when he was younger, he forgot his mother’s and his brother’s birthday. Now, more than ever, he forgot about special dates in their lives, if he had a meeting tomorrow or the next week; things like that.

Rhett was forgetful but right now, he wanted to hit himself in the head.

He had forgotten Link’s birthday.

Rhett was talking with Jen in hushed tones in the kitchen while Link was downstairs in the studio arranging something for their next Good Mythical Morning shooting. “Jen,” he whispered and she raised her eyebrow, as if she was saying wordlessly _you have my attention_. “I got this for Link.” From one of his jacket’s pockets, he pulled a small velvety box that made Jen smile.

“Yeah?” She mumbled, taking it on her hands. Jen opened and found a small, simple, silver ring and she smiled widely his boss. “When are you giving it to him?”

“On his birthday,” he started explaining. “I have everything planed out. I’m going to take him to-” he noticed Jen’s expression changing and Rhett frowned. “Why are you looking at me like that? I haven’t finished explaining my plan.”

“Rhett,” she started taking out her phone. “Today is June 3rd.”

He frowned and looked at her as if she was crazy but Jen pulled her phone up, showing him the time and the date. Wednesday, June 3rd. Rhett looked at the ring in the velvety box and just let himself fall on the counter, his arms and his forehead resting against the cold surface.

For his birthday last year, Link woke him up with kisses and a cup of coffee, he baked him a pizza cake (“I improve it, I promise”) and every chance he got, Link would steal a kiss or two. Not to mention that the sex that night was mind-blowing.

He was such an idiot.

Rhett took the box, closed it, pulled inside his pocket once again and walked his way to the studio.

Eddie and Chase were talking to Link before the last one noticed his boyfriend standing under the door frame. “Hey,” he greeted him and before he knew it, Rhett was asking the other two men to get out so they could talk alone. When they were completely alone, Link turned at Rhett with a frown on his face. “What’s wrong?”

“Your birthday was two days ago and you didn’t say anything?”

Link stood still, looking at Rhett incredulous.

“Excuse me?” Link asked, as if he didn’t hear the first time.

“Monday, it was your birthday. You didn’t remind me!”

“Oh,” Link started. “I’m supposed to remind you _my birthday_? What I am, Google calendar or something?”

“Link, I didn’t mean it like that.”

“Didn’t you?” Link looked away and ran a hand through his hair. “I mean, I didn’t see you the whole day and I’d have been happy with a call or even a text message saying _hey, happy birthday, you mean a lot to me_ or something cheesy that you would say.”

He waited for Rhett to say something but the other man was speechless.

“You didn’t come home that night.” He sighed. “Look, Rhett, I wasn’t expecting _anything_ : I wasn’t expecting flowers or gifts. I wasn’t expecting anything but, you know, your presence would have been enough” and he just sighed, looking away. “Go change your shirt, it’s dirty and we’re having a Skype call with a client in ten minutes.”

Link walked out of the studio and the box in Rhett’s pocket felt heavier than it was. When they got home, they were still tense and, while Link was taking a shower, Rhett threw the small box in the back of their closet, hiding under all of his shirts.

He just forgot about it.

**\---**

Months later, Rhett and Link started talking about searching for another house. Maybe find one that was closer to the office or more centric in the city. Not even a year had pass and they already brought a house that Link described as _perfect_.

(Rhett was just happy that it wasn’t exaggeratedly big or expensive.)

It was 31th of May when they started packing all the stuff. Boxes filled with papers, books and paraphernalia were scattered around the different rooms in their apartment, so they could move out by the weekend without problem. They had taken their weeklong vacation so them moving won’t mess up their GMM recording schedule.

Rhett had been closing some boxes with tape and naming them when he heard Link calling his name.

Well, it was more like a yell.

“What’s wrong?” He asked, walking to the bedroom to find Link standing up with a velvety box on his hands. Most of his clothes had fallen from the closet and some were on the box beside his boyfriend. “Oh, oh, whoa. You weren’t supposed to find that.”

“You want to marry me?” Link asked, looking at Rhett the same way he had when they discussed about him forgetting Link’s birthday: incredulous. “Rhett?”

“Yeah, well,” he stuttered. “I was going to do it on your birthday last year but, you know, I kinda miss it and you were upset.” Link was speechless. “I had everything prepared: dinner in some restaurant, the ring, that kind of stuff, but I was two days late. I just threw it in there and forgot about it.”

“Oh, god, Rhett.” Link’s voice sounded so broken and so small that Rhett thought he was about to cry.

“I’m sorry. I was an idiot that day,” Rhett apologized.

“Oh, don’t say that,” Link mumbled, walking closer to the taller man. He put his hands on the other man’s neck and smiled. “I love you. I wasn’t upset, I was… disappointed I guess.”

“I’m sorry still,” the other man whispered, kissing Link’s forehead. “I love you too.” They were in silence for a moment, hugging each other before Rhett said something. “So, about the ring…” and Link interrupted him with a laugh. “We can do like nothing ever happened and I’ll propose to you tomorrow.”

“Or…you can propose to me now and we can start celebrating.”

Rhett’s smile was wide and full of desire and Link couldn’t help but smile back. “You’re a genius.”

That night, they made love until they couldn’t and on the first of June, Link woke up naked next to Rhett, his neck and his shoulders already showing red and blue bruises.

Rhett didn’t give him flowers, gifts or even a cake. Rhett didn’t brought him breakfast in bed, didn’t take him out anywhere fancy and he didn’t threw him a party. Link was more than happy with the “ _happy birthday, love_ ” that Rhett mumbled to him between kisses, his engagement ring shining under the sun that filled the room.

Link had the best birthday ever.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Talk to me @[mythical-soul](mythical-soul.tumblr.com)!


End file.
